The kidnappings further threaten the government’s shaky effort to convince hundreds of thousands of displaced members of the Mehsud tribe that the Taleban are defeated and that it is safe to return to their homes in South Waziristan.
Taleban courts in South Waziristan are deciding how to punish the men and boys being held, and should have a “verdict” within days, said Pakistani Taleban spokesman Azam Tariq.
“This is a warning to the tribal people to not come to the area because we are still present in South Waziristan,” Tariq said via phone. He claimed the militants had seven Taleban courts functioning in South Waziristan, as well as 22 offices.
The army sent some 30,000 soldiers in an offensive against the Pakistani Taleban in South Waziristan more than a year ago, and it claims to have killed hundreds of insurgents while bringing most of the conflict zone not far from the Afghan border under control.
The fighting forced some 400,000 civilians to flee the region, and many are now staying in Dera Ismail Khan and other cities near the tribal belt. Despite ongoing efforts by the military to get the civilians to go home, the numbers returning have been small.
Those resisting cite Taleban threats. Mehsud elders said the kidnappings are a sign that the militants are angry with the tribe.
“On one side, the government says peace is established in South Waziristan, and on the other our tribesmen are being kidnapped,” said Maulana Esamuddin Mehsud, one of two Mehsud tribal leaders who said they learned of the kidnappings from the victims’ relatives.
The 23, who include several students, were among those attending functions with Pakistani army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in the Ladha and Makeen areas of South Waziristan on Dec. 7. Kayani was visiting some development projects designed to show progress, including schools.
The circumstances surrounding the capture of the 23 were murky.
According to local intelligence officials, the militants lured the victims to a town on the border of South and North Waziristan tribal regions, with promises of food rations. They then grabbed the unsuspecting tribesmen.
Meanwhile, Suspected US missiles struck two vehicles in a Taleban stronghold on Pakistan’s side of the border with Afghanistan on Monday, killing 18 alleged militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said.
The six missiles fired Monday struck the vehicles in the Shera Tala village of North Waziristan. Shera Tala lies in Mir Ali district, where militants are heavily concentrated.
The exact identities of the 18 dead were not immediately certain.
The vehicles were apparently leaving a compound, and one was carrying a large load of ammunition, magnifying the blasts from the missile strikes, the intelligence officials said.
